Thanksgiving!

There's lots to be thankful for this year. I could go on a rant of gratitude here, but I've already done so other places and I can sum it up here: Friends, Family, and Food!

I've been invited to a friend's house for dinner, so I only had to make a few dishes to bring over. Saved me the trouble of making something with potatoes and/or gravy, and I had it all done in a reasonable amount of time... and ahead of time.

Menu:

Tofu-Almond Loaf with Agave Glaze

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

Crumb Cauliflower

Cheesecake (NOT vegan, but eggless)

Tofu-Almond Loaf with Agave Glaze

1 cup almond meal, toasted
2 TB vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 celery ribs, diced
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
2 cups mashed, pressed firm tofu
1 cup uncooked oat bran
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed
1/2 cup uncooked Cream of Wheat
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 T. soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

Toast the almond meal in a skillet over medium heat till lightly browned. Be careful, it's very easy to burn once you get to the browning stage! Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté vegetables in the oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more oat bran or cream of wheat as needed if the loaf seems too wet. Mix the glaze ingredients in a separate bowl.

Press loaf mixture into the prepared pan and cover the top evenly with glaze, then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

1 lb. fresh cranberries (4 cups)
1 cup water
1-1/2 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice

Rinse cranberries and pick out any icky stuff. In large saucepan over med heat, heat water, juice and sugar until boiling, stirring occasionally. Continue boiling 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved, then add cranberries. Heat to boiling again over medium heat, stirring now and then, about 10 minutes or when the cranberries have sufficiently popped and thickened. (Keep in mind that will be much thicker chilled than when it's still boiling.) Remove from heat, give it a good stir and let stand for about 20 minutes to cool. Pour into bowl and cool completely before refrigerating.

Crumb Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1/4 cup margarine

1 tube ritz crackers. crushed

Steam cauliflower till soft and put in a serving bowl. Then smash up the crackers and brown them in butter, pour over cauliflower and serve.

Cheesecake

1 graham crust

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. vanilla

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla
1 pt. sour cream

Crust:

1 pack graham crackers (8 long crackers)

1/2 stick butter, melted

2 T brown sugar

Grind crackers into fine crumbs, add melted butter and sugar, mix well and press into 9 inch spring pan. Bake crust separately for 5 minutes at 350 degrees while mixing the filling.

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, and 1 tablespoons vanilla. Pour into shell and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Increase oven heat to 400 degrees.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar, sour cream, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour over cheese mixture and bake 10 minutes, cool. Store in refrigerator.

Tofu Breakfast Sandwiches

Yum, yum, yum. I haunt VegWeb.com all the time looking for good food porn and new recipes to spark ideas or introduce a little variety in our diet. (You should check it out, it's a really awesome resource for vegetarians. All the recipes and photos are user-submitted, and vegan to boot. It's also got a pretty extensive social network built into it, so if you're looking for veggie forums, this is a place you wanna go.)

This recipe looked promising, and I finally tried it yesterday with a few adaptations and found it to be a really delicious, simple way to prepare tofu. Pressing the tofu for just 30 minutes to an hour keeps the center light and fluffy, replicating the texture of the best egg ever cooked and tossed into a sandwich.

I just ate the sandwich in the picture above. It was tasty and filling, and my husband (who is not a vegetarian, just exceptionally tolerant) raved about how good they smelled and tasted.


Tofu Breakfast Sandwich

1 block extra-firm tofu, pressed

Marinade:
3 T vinegar
1-1/2 tsp country-style dijon mustard (I prefer the brown mustards over regular dijon, they're less bitter)
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 T nutritional yeast
generous sprinklings of turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper

Cut tofu block in half, making two fat rectangles, then slice each into thirds. You should end up with 6 pieces roughly the size and shape of a deck of cards. In a flat-bottomed bowl just big enough to fit one slice of tofu, mix the marinade ingredients until it makes a thick sauce. Dredge each piece in the marinade til coated and drop into a skillet on medium heat, scooping any remaining marinade over the slices. Cook for 5-8 minutes on each side, or until browned. If you like, put a small piece of non-dairy cheese on each tofu slab after turning and let it melt in while the bottom finishes cooking.

Serve on a warm soft roll or toast with a little vegan mayo, or with tomato and avocado slices. Makes enough for 3 hearty servings, or 6 small ones. I bet they'd be pretty fantastic on a homemade biscuit with a vegan sausage patty, too... *drool*

One-Pot Spinach and Pasta

This is another one of those recipes that you can make when you have literally nothing fresh in the house... you just need a few essentials from the pantry and freezer, and a few basic seasonings to make it happen. Of course, adding strips or chunks of mock chicken and some kick-ass tofu ricotta makes it that much better. My 7 year old absolutely loves this, tomatoes, spinach and all, and will eat as much as I let him. (I try to make sure he doesn't eat so much that he comes to me afterward clutching his belly and saying "I hurt my body..." again.)

Here are some extra tips, since I'm feeling excessive this morning:

• If you like it, double the spinach for extra veggie love here... those little boxes of plain frozen spinach are a fantastic deal at around $1 each, and packed full of vitamins and minerals.
• Make this extra-nice if you *do* have fresh produce. Chop an onion and saute it with a clove or two of fresh minced garlic, then add 1/2-1 lb of sliced mushrooms or zucchini and stir till the veggies are cooked. Complete the recipe as follows (omitting the onion and garlic powder, of course).
• I "thaw" my spinach by dropping the sealed plastic pouch into the pasta water and taking it out when it boils.
  

One-Pot Spinach & Pasta

1 lb medium shell pasta, cooked (rotini and macaroni work great too)

1 package frozen spinach, thawed
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can navy beans, drained
2 T olive oil
1 cup chopped chicken substitute (optional)
1 recipe Basil-Tofu Ricotta (also optional)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional but delicious)
1/2 teaspoon each garlic and onion powder
1/2 tsp each thyme, basil and oregano or 1 T italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions while you open cans and get out your sauce ingredients. Drain pasta in a colander and set aside. Add all other ingredients to the now-empty pasta pot (hooray, fewer dishes) and stir over medium heat till bubbly. Taste it for salt now- this is important, since a lot of these ingredients can vary widely in salt content and once you put it in, you can't take it back out! When you're satisfied with the tastiness of your sauce, add the drained noodles back to the pot and stir well. Makes a LOT, and refrigerates very well for leftovers. Serve by itself, or with garlic bread and a salad.

Better-Than-Sausage Gravy

(Pulled this recipe for further testing. Sorry guys! It's just not quite right!)

Crispy Tofu "Egg"

I had a block of pressed tofu that was threatening to go bad on me (how can you tell? Just before it starts to turn, it'll smell faintly of corn. *cue "The More You Know" logo*). I wished for an egg sammich but since none was forthcoming I sliced this stuff up and threw in a little bit of whatever sounded good from my cabinets. Oh man. I've never tried this combination of spices before, but I loved it! They turned out so crispy-crunchy and good. I stacked three of them up on half a warm, buttered roll and ate them for breakfast. That's some good noms.

Crispy Tofu "Egg"

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed

1/4 tsp fenugreek powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp turmeric (just a pinch or two for color)
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
sesame oil
1 T vegetable oil

Slice tofu brick in half width-wise, then cut each half into 4 thin slices across making 8 thin, flat tofu slices, roughly 2"x3". Put in a large ziploc bag and pour in a few drops of sesame oil and about 1 T. or so of vegetable oil and toss to coat on all sides. Next, mix together a few pinches of each spice. (I listed measurements here but really, it's not rocket surgery. Just use a little of everything!) Toss spices in with the tofu, again making sure all slices are evenly coated. Place in a medium-hot frying pan and cook for 5-8 minutes on each side, or until crispy and browned.

Serve hot with whole-grain rolls and a side of grilled asparagus.

Basil-Tofu Ricotta

Mom got me a copy of Vegan with a Vengeance for Christmas last year, and I've found some real gems in there. This seasoned tofu is so, so good... the author recommends putting it on pizza or stuffing it into pasta shells, but I also like it on crackers, in sandwiches and I've even sort of eaten it right out of the bowl. >_>

Basil-Tofu Ricotta

1 lb firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
dash of freshly-ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 c nutritional yeast

In a large bowl, mush the tofu, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and basil thoroughly with your hands until it's about the consistency of ricotta cheese. This may take 2-5 minutes! Next, add the olive oil and nutritional yeast and stir well. Don't use your hands for this part, you'll get all sticky. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

(Note: I've had success using a fork to mash this, if I don't feel like getting my hands dirty. It's a bit more lumpy, which makes it a perfect substitute for egg salad. Do yourself a favor and make a sandwich out of this. I just ate one. It was friggin' good.)

Ginger-Lime Tofu

If you chill and reheat this, the tofu tastes eerily like chicken breast. It is awesome. (PS: Sorry the pic is sucky. I'll replace it when I can =D)

Ginger-Lime Tofu

1 block firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp vegetable oil, divided
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 broccoli crown, trimmed and cut into small florets
5 baby carrots, sliced
3 large button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 small-medium summer squash, quartered and sliced
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
dash pepper
1/4 c nutritional yeast
2 T soy sauce
juice of 1/2 a lime (fresh is best)

Cut tofu into 1/4" slices. Cut slices in half to make squares, then cut the squares diagonally to make triangles. Toss in a large pan on medium-high heat and drizzle with half the oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely golden-brown on all sides. It may take a while :) Set tofu aside and cook the vegetables in the remaining oil, starting with onion, adding garlic when the onion becomes translucent. When garlic is fragrant, add broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is cooked on the outside but still raw in the middle, then add squash and peppers. When vegetables are tender, add ginger, black pepper, and nutritional yeast, stirring until incorporated, then add soy sauce and lime juice. Remove from heat and stir well. Serve immediately, or chill and reheat.

Tofu Scramble

When I decided to give up meat, I went to the store and bought a bunch of vegetarian foods to experiment with a whole new genre of cooking. It was exciting! ... but I wasn't sure what to think of the squishy white bricks of bean curd in my fridge until I tried a scramble recipe I found online. I've used a ton of variations on that simple recipe for a year now, and it's always come out delicious. This version is flavored with fenugreek, a potent spice that's really growing on me.

Tofu Scramble

1 block firm tofu
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 lb. button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp ground savory (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 T. soy sauce

Crumble the tofu into chunks, squeezing out excess water before tossing into a large frying pan on medium-medium high heat. Drizzle oil over the tofu and stir well. (I almost always add oil to a hot pan AFTER I put in the tofu. Tofu is, well, full of water, and it spatters like crazy if you just drop it into hot oil. Ouch!) Stir often, breaking up big chunks into smaller pieces, until the water really starts to cook off and the tofu starts to turn golden. Add onion and garlic and stir until slightly translucent, then add peppers and mushrooms. When the mushrooms are cooked through, sprinkle fenugreek, savory and turmeric over all, add soy sauce and stir well. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast, if desired and serve with Earth Balance margarine on whole-grain toast.

How to press tofu!

Okay, I know everyone's new to tofu at some point. I'm going to attempt to explain how one goes about pressing the much-maligned bean curd here, for reference. This is my method, which I've perfected over the course of a year of working with the stuff. It'll press your tofu into a very dense little brick that fries up chewy and crisp, or that you can squish into mock ricotta cheese.

You want to start with a tray of extra firm tofu. Not the little shelf-stable boxes, but the kind you have to refrigerate. (Golly, this would be better with pictures, huh?) Cut the plastic open and drain, then turn out the tofu onto a cutting board. Wrap the block in a paper towel, nothing fancy... just make sure the big sides are covered. The sides don't mater much. Next, take a dry, very clean dishtowel and roll it around the tofu. You want a nice little bundle that lies flat, go ahead an experiment with different folds to see what works best for your towel size.

Next, you want something heavy and preferably small. I'm a big cheater and have a 4"x4" block of steel from my jewelrysmithing days, and it weighs a ton so I just keep it in a ziploc bag and put it on my tofu bundle. You can experiment with books, or use a small plate or pan and put a couple cans of beans or something on top. Anything that's heavy and fairly compact will do. If it's too big, it tends to tip to one side or the other and can leave you with lopsided tofu. Nobody wants that!

Once you've got something heavy resting on your tofu, go read some new recipes or clean the kitchen, or maybe read a book. Watch a movie or go shopping, whatever you like, because you're going to want to press that puppy for at least an hour. I usually leave mine pressing for 3 hours (or longer, if I forget...). Once it's pressed to your liking, take off the sopping-wet dishtowel, peel off the paper towel, and use or store in the fridge till you need it. To store it, put it in a flat-bottomed container and cover with clean water. It won't reabsorb the water, I promise!

Now you are ready tomake some pretty awesome tofu recipes!